The Fifth Bullet
by Gina Trujillo
Summary: A short summary of a Sonic related dream I had. It was strange and sad, and this file is poorly written.... look at your own risk.


~ The Fifth Bullet ~  
  
June 4, 2003  
  
Last night I had a very strange dream that was pretty cool and sad all at once. It was a first person point of view from Shadow. However, I'm going to write it in the third person to try and cut down on confusion.  
  
I'm warning you right now, this is a weird ass dream, and pretty poorly written by my usual standards. Still, it's just an outline and it may one day become something more... who knows?  
  
______________________________________________________________________  
  
The dream started out as Shadow was decorating an attic looking area for a Halloween party that was the next day, apparently. He was setting up Christmas lights because the attic had no lighting. He heard someone coming up the stairs. Shadow bolted for the door- which looked a lot like one of the doors you find at a school, with the window on the side.  
  
Some random Wombat guy was at the door just as Shadow reached it and slipped out it.  
  
"What're you doing in there?" The guy asked, trying to look past him into the room.  
  
"You're not supposed to know!" Shadow replied, "The party's not 'til tonight and it's a surprise! Shhh!"  
  
"Oh, I get it!" The guy turned and hurried down the stairs, Shadow following. The two ended up in a large sunroom with huge windows and rock floors. They bolted past the windows quickly, trying not to be seen by anyone who would happen by, and they ended up in a kitchen.  
  
This house was a place that housed fugitives and hid them from those hunting them down. It was a mansion of sorts, with many hidden rooms and secret passages. I was under the impression in the dream that the owner was a very rich woman, but that she wasn't necessarily there. I was also under the impression that Shadow and the rest of the group (just about everyone from the games was there) weren't actually hiding, but protecting those who were. It reminded me a lot of how people used to hide escaped slaves.  
  
Those who were hiding were mainly women and small children, many of which had befriended Shadow. There were a lot of people there, between fifty and a hundred by my best guess.  
  
Night came. Shadow, Sonic and a few other people happened to be outside the house at the time, doing something in the garden near the street. A call suddenly came from beyond the garden wall.  
  
"Shadow! I'm callin' you out, Hedgehog!"  
  
"Shadow, don't." Sonic said in warning, but the black Hedgehog didn't listen. Determined, he jumped the wall and was in the street, suddenly surrounded by at least five large brutes.  
  
The one who Shadow was after was a Dingo looking man, wielding a machete and knife. He wasted no time in attacking, swinging the blades as his gang watched and waited to jump in if he needed back up. Shadow dodged as much as he could, getting a knick here and a scratch there until he was almost back against the wall. The Dingo brought the two blades downward for his head. Shadow threw the back of his arm up in defense as he ducked. His scream echoed through the streets, and was the deciding factor in Sonic jumping into the fight.  
  
Things were resolved quickly after that, and Shadow was brought inside so that is wounds could be tended to. The two blades had cut right to the bone in his right arm, blood covered his side and he was worried he might pass out. Needless to say, he wouldn't voice this to anyone.  
  
When his arm was cleaned, but not bandaged yet, there came a sound from outside the house.  
  
"They ratted us out!" Sonic said as he ran through the room, "Get everyone hidden! Fast!"  
  
Shadow was lead into a secret room by the woman who was bandaging him. It was connected to another secret room by a small passage with no door on either end. The rooms filled up quickly and the secret doors were closed. Rouge was the one who stayed in the main part of the house to answer the door when the people outside knocked.  
  
"Who are they?" Shadow whispered to Sonic.  
  
"Bounty hunters, I think. Looked like bad news." Sonic replied.  
  
"They'll never find this place." Shadow said confidently, "Are all the kids alright?"  
  
"Shhh!" Sonic hissed at him as the sound of voices in the house came closer to their hiding place. Everyone in the room fell silent, listening to Rouge as she explained that everyone but her was out for the evening. The voices of the other bounty hunters grew fainter as they headed for the door again. The door closed and everyone could hear them leaving the front walk. There was silence for a moment, and then a nervous laugh spread through the room. Shadow breathed a sigh of relief, creeping closer to one of the secret doors.  
  
He could hear Rouge outside... And someone else! They weren't all gone yet! Shadow quickly shushed everyone, running into the other hidden room to silence everyone in there, as well. The children were mostly in this back room, and making them be quiet again took a bit longer than Shadow would have liked. He then ran back into the room that he'd started in, ignoring the blood running freely from his wounded arm.  
  
There was a totally silent and very tense moment. The sound of the other bounty hunters coming back into the house made everyone fear the worst. A moment later, with the sound of a secret door opening, their fears were brought to life.  
  
Shadow and Sonic were the first to get to the door, just as a Lynx bounty hunter stepped through and lifted his handgun, firing into the crowd as he laughed insanely. Four shots were fired, but whether they hit their intended targets, I don't know.  
  
The fifth bullet was fired. With a scream, Shadow fell to his knees, gripping his stomach. Blood seeped from between his fingers as he tried to hold the wound shut. The sounds of battle were all around him, and he pulled himself off to the side to keep from getting trampled in the madness. Everyone was screaming, the children were trying to escape, but it seemed they were ultimately failing.  
  
Shadow started to black out. Shaking his head, he forced his eyes to stay open, repeating over and over to himself, "Not like this... not like this..." He couldn't die here. He just couldn't!  
  
A hand landed on his shoulder. With great effort, he looked up to see Amy Rose sitting down beside him. Tears were in her eyes and she looked extremely worried.  
  
The sounds of the fight became fainter, but whether it was because the fight was ending or because his hearing was failing, Shadow wasn't sure. He leaned over into Amy's lap, wincing and starting to cry himself.  
  
It was hopeless. All hopeless.  
  
...And suddenly, he was ready to leave. He was ready to accept this fate with open arms, no longer caring what was going to happen to him or anyone else after this. Everything went black, his body limp within Amy's arms.  
  
The blackness faded away in the dream, as if it were a movie now. Tails stood in front of what was left of the group of refugees, speaking mostly to Sonic and Amy.  
  
"I looked at the autopsy report you got from the hospital." He paused and looked to his feet, then back up, "From what I could gather, there was a good chance he could have lived through that gunshot." He paused again, almost not wanting to say what he was going to, "I think... the only real reason he died was that... that he gave up. He didn't want to survive it."  
  
"Why?" Sonic asked, his tone stern yet unbelieving.  
  
Tails hesitated before answering, "I don't know. All I know is that he gave up." With a bitter look on his face, he took a few steps back, eyes locked with Sonic's. "And you...?" He slowly turned and left the room.  
  
Fade to black once again...  
  
______________________________________________________________________ Well, that's how my dream went. Strange indeed, but Sonic related dreams are common to me. I've just never really had one that I died in before! I might elaborate on this story some day, maybe even make it a comic. Not sure. For now, this is the basic outline of what happened in my dream.  
  
How did you sleep last night?  
  
- Story © Gina Trujillo, June 4th, 2003. Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters © Sega. Used without permission. - 


End file.
